A smiling woman with braided hair sitting beside lush green plants against a white brick wall, highlighting innovative African architectural styles.
Learning to embrace your history can be difficult, but it’s become a mission for Madelyn Bonilla. A new filmmaker, as well as the founder of online community Brown Narrativ, Madelyn Bonilla, has grown to love and champion her heritage as an AfroLatina, but it took a lot of time and work to get there. The former forensic science researcher-turned-advertising guru was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and raised in the Bronx, New York – or, “where Hip-Hop was bred”, as the 36-year-old puts it. Growing up in a typically Latinx family, community, and neighborhood, Bonilla knew that there was so much more of herself to discover, as her interests in Black culture shaped a lot of her life. It wasn’t until her early 20s that she started to allow herself to explore her identity as an AfroLatina woman.
SOURCE: OKAYAFRICA